Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, December 9. Oh, and check out the video of newly announced VA GOP U.S. Senate candidate Nick Freitas channeling Ayn Rand about the horrors of gubmint and people telling you what to do and stuff. Nutjob. For some examples illustrating what Freitas believes, check out ‘Religious freedom’ bill passes House committee over objections from LGBT advocates and also his Project Vote Smart ratings (ZERO from NARAL, 100% from the NRA, a pathetic 24% lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters, 90% from the bats***-crazy American Conservative Union, etc.). And note that Freitas will be facing two even MORE extreme Republicans, if that’s possible — neo-Confederate xenophobe Corey Stewart and frothing-at-the-mouth-crazy Ewwwww Jackson. Yes, that’s today’s Virginia GOP for you – the John Birch Society on steroids.

The Mueller Investigation Is in Mortal Danger (“It is almost a maxim of the Trump era that the bounds of the unthinkable continuously shrink. The capitulation to Moore was a dry run for the coming assault on the rule of law.”)

Powell to leave White House in early 2018 (“The announcement of her exit marks the first confirmed departure of what many people close to the administration expect to be a mass exodus in the early part of next year.”)